Day 120, Year 4: Visa Extension Granted-Just Not Long Enough
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Weather: Sunny and Hotter Than Normal-Absolutely No Breeze
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
The main story of today was the trip to the Immigration Office to get a 30-day Visa extension. We would have loved to have gotten a 60-day extension, but there is no such thing. Our current extension makes us legal until March 23 and then we must drive to Myanmar (Burma) or to Malaysia to get another extension. That extension could be for 30 days or for 15, depending on the mood of the border officer. Either will probably do for us as we really hope to be leaving Thailand by the end of the first week of April, but we do find the changing rules and regulations to be a bit frustrating.
On the way home, we stopped by Ratanachai Slipway. It is one of the three haul-out facilities on Phuket Island and one we had not visited it before. It is a huge, commercial facility where all the fishing boats and other commercial boats haul out. We only saw one sailboat there yesterday and the place looked a mess. We have heard horror stories from different people about getting work done there, but it is certainly a cheaper alternative. It was a coincidence that yesterday afternoon I got online to read the logs of a cruising boat that Jean on Renaissance had recommended. The boat’s name is Sunflower and they hauled out at Ratanachai this time last year and had a mostly positive experience. So looks can be deceiving. They did note that the amount of pollution fall-out from the fish factory next door kept them busy cleaning the deck each day, but otherwise things were fine. The reason I was looking at Sunflower’s log is because they have left their boat in Thailand for six months each of the past three years and had horrible experiences with mold and mildew on everything when they returned. They have learned some tricks to help avoid this so I will carefully note their suggestions and use them when we are readying Windbird for her stay here during the wet season. I think we will be looking for a dehumidifier that we can run while we are gone. That should help with the inside problem, but preventing mold and mildew on the newly painted cabin top and teak deck will be a littler
trickier.
In last night’s log we had asked for help from anyone who knows more than we do about coax cable. We had barely sent the log when we heard back from our son-in-law, Jed. He had great information for us that assured us that we had bought the right cable. This morning we got another email from a man who has been following our logs, and it was in even more detail, still assuring us that we had the right thing. It is at times like these that I am in total awe of the internet. Being able to get feedback from competent people so quickly is just amazing. So thanks to Larry and to Jed.
Today there was more sanding, more fairing, and more sanding on Windbird’s hull. The crew is making sure that every little bump and wrinkle is sanded smooth and this takes time. We’re just not sure when the next coat of primer is going on. We thought tomorrow, but Mark talked to Luck today and thinks he was saying Monday. So we shall see. All of the stainless from the aft end of the boat is now down at Nop’s shop. The shop is just a hole in the wall at the end of the marine services next to the hard stand area. There is a jumble of stainless stacked here and there, but we were able to identify Windbird’s stainless and get some photos. The welder and an assistant were grinding away when we were there, making sure all the welds are as smooth as possible. After the grinding will come polishing. We’re not sure when the completed product will be installed on Windbird, but I’m sure those details will be revealed to us as we roll along.
Tonight we went out to dinner with a number of cruisers from here and from Royal Phuket. It was the same group as last night, Susan and Richard of Sea Bunny and Nanette and Stuart of Truest Passion, with the addition of two boats from Royal Phuket. Heather and Dave of Milliways (who thought seriously about buying our Suzuki outboard at Rebak) and Dave and Di of Amoenitas joined us. All of these folks are from the UK, so we are the only non-Brits in the group. We met out on the highway just outside the Boat Lagoon and risked our lives to cross the highway to get to the good, but very cheap restaurant. We asked that they bring us enough food for ten people and left the choices up to the cook. The food was excellent and the cost was only $7 US for each couple. This included as much beer as we could drink. What a great deal. I’d do this every night if I didn’t have to cross the highway. That little trek makes me super nervous, but we were careful and all was fine.
We started our day by packaging up everything in our apartment in plastic bags. We had a written notice from the hotel office soon after we moved in explaining that they would be doing routine bug spraying and fogging on February 5 and February 19. I assumed this meant they would be spraying and fogging inside our apartment, so on both days, I packaged and covered everything. Silly me. We learned today that the spraying and fogging goes on outside the apartment building. I really, really don’t like chemical bug sprays, so I took the extra precaution. Oh well. Now I know the process and won’t have to take the time to package everything in plastic the next time we get a notice.
Our son Justin and his wife Jo are starting to think about the “paraphernalia” they will need when the baby arrives in April. We have been spending time emailing back and we have been searching the web to see the things they think they want. It is very difficult for parents these days to make choices that are environmentally friendly and still affordable. We are enjoying the back and forth on baby “essentials” and extras. So there are lots of things keeping us busy and happy.
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| 090219 Day 120 Boat Lagoon, Phuket, Thailand–Boat Work Continues |
